In the Aftermath
by star429
Summary: How does Caitlin (from the Flash) see the William situation once it comes to light? What does she do to help her friends? And how does she feel about Barry's advice to Oliver from 4.08? *Spoilers for Arrow* (So sorry that I can't add Caitlin as a main Arrow character on here. If you hate her for whatever reason, probably shouldn't read this. But this isn't a Snowbarry fic.)


A/N Why write a Flarrow story about William that places Caitlin at the center? I really don't know except that it's in my head constantly, and of these two series, she's the character most like me and whose POV it's easiest to find. Let me know what you think! This will definitely be Jossed or else won't be depicted on screen in this level of detail, and I just can't find it in myself to care lol.

 **In the Aftermath**

Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco settle in to watch the debate in STAR labs. When the woman who they understand is Oliver's arch-nemesis's wife reveals that he has an illegitimate son, Caitlin hears Barry clearly say under his breath, "Oh… What have I done?" She sees him take a deep breath, stare at his friend's tortured face on the screen, and issue a quick command to Cisco.

"William and Samantha Clayton, find them on the satellite. Or an address so I can go check on them. If Darkh knows Oliver has a son…"

Cisco and Caitlin both stare at him in confusion. Not at the threat, but at the idea that they need to help. _Won't Felicity already have eyes on them? It's been about 10 seconds already._ She takes a closer look at Barry's face and gasps. "She didn't know…"

Barry shakes his head stiffly. "No." There's something on his face that doesn't make sense to her. Even more so when he says, "Cait, I messed up…"

Cisco's already at the computer, typing.

"What are you talking about?" Caitlin asks Barry. "If Oliver kept this from Felicity… Well, that's terrible, obviously, but what does that have to do with you?"

He meets her eyes, warily. "Maybe because I told him to."

 _It's too soon to get angry. I still don't understand._ Caitlin takes a breath and takes a step closer to Barry.

"What happened?"

"I probably shouldn't…"

"Barry!"

"I traveled back in time, again." Those words carry a weight between them, Ronnie's death still lingering unspoken in the history of Barry time traveling. _What would Barry do to over-correct for that?_ The analytical part of her mind whispered, even in her shock, even through the echo of her grief.

"Tell me you didn't go back in time just to fix their relationship." Caitlin finally stated, calmly but icily.

Barry shook his head adamantly, hearing the tone. "No, but in the first timeline, the one I erased, Oliver asked me to run what I _knew_ was a paternity test, but I hadn't put together that Oliver was the father. It was while we were holed up fighting against Vandal Savage. He didn't know until then, Caitlin, you can't fake a reaction like that."

"Felicity knew he was keeping something from her," she muttered, putting the pieces together. "She talked to me about it."

Barry nodded. "She tracked us to my lab at the precinct, and she forced me to hand the results over. She figured it out. She confronted Oliver right before we were supposed to face Savage, and when I walked outside to find them, they were arguing… It sounded like she ended things, Caitlin, over the son."

Caitlin thought of her friend and her relationship with her fiancé and slowly shook her head. "That doesn't track," she said, thoughtfully. If Felicity was angry over an affair that happened a decade earlier when Oliver hadn't even met her… No, that didn't make any sense.

"Caitlin, I was there!" His tone was frustrated.

"No, you walked in halfway through an argument. You have no idea whether Felicity was angry that Oliver had a child or angry that he kept it from her or both or whether secrets is an ongoing argument they keep having… It's a long-term relationship. It has its… own language." She couldn't explain this certainty to Barry because he simply didn't get it. He had never been in a long-term relationship. She thought of Ronnie and their arguments with a fondness she never believed she would find at the time.

"And none of that changes the fact that you should have let all of that play out again exactly the same way without telling either of them that the timeline had been reset. You _know_ better!" She exclaimed in exasperation.

"I couldn't," Barry stated, mournfully. "He was so distracted that we lost… Everyone died. That's why I had to turn back the clock."

"And of course there were no other tactical mistakes or anything else that went wrong that you could fix all by themselves the second time?" Caitlin asked, sarcastically. "We're talking about a man who's fought for his life for almost a decade. I'm pretty sure he can compartmentalize."

"Cait…" She heard in his voice that he thought this was different, that he thought Oliver was different, and she felt for him, just briefly. It had been a tough decision; she could hear it in his voice.

"What about after?"

"I… asked him what he was planning on telling her."

 _Oh good, now I know enough to be angry._ "And what advice did you give him?" She spoke each word pointedly.

"I told him that William needs his father, but also needs to be safe, and that the timeline could fight back if he told Felicity this time." He sighed. "It was terrible and contradictory advice, Caitlin, _I know that."_

Caitlin shook her head at him. "You didn't stop to consider that Felicity found out on her own in the other timeline. To replicate the former timeline, she would have had to figure it out herself again, and maybe even break up with him, again. You didn't let that happen. You meddled!"

"I… I know."

"Do you?" Caitlin shouted, finally losing her patience. "Barry, if she had broken up with him, she wouldn't have been in that limo!"

They all let her voice echo through STAR labs, silent. The severity and the implications of her words settled around them like a dark cloud. If that darkness wasn't enough, then the chaos on the TV screen was enough to prove that Barry's interference in the Olicity aspect of the timeline was nothing more that a Band-Aid on an inevitable crack in the relationship.

"I'm sorry," Caitlin apologized. "That wasn't fair." _True possibly, but not fair._ She looked at Barry, seriously. "But you do need to learn to change the big things, city-threatening things, without compromising the rest."

"They were so happy," Barry said mournfully, as if it explained his actions. Maybe it did.

"Found them on the satellite, they're fine" Cisco finally said, not commenting on their argument. He did look at Barry compassionately, recognizing that time traveling was still a mystery to Barry. But the look he shot quickly at Caitlin made it clear to her that he agreed with her.

 _For now…_ Caitlin's mind whispered traitorously. _They're fine for now._ And in that moment, she found herself feeling grateful that she wasn't Oliver Queen right now.

It comes as no surprise to Caitlin when William is eventually kidnapped a week after the debate. Immediately upon hearing the news, Barry raced over to grab a couple of William's toys right out from under Samantha's nose for Cisco to try and vibe using. Barry briefly made a joke to Oliver about all the Flash toys on the floor before reading correctly on Oliver's face that _now was not the time._ If that wasn't enough, Thea shaking her head at Barry and glaring at him behind her brother's back protectively definitely was.

Cisco hasn't had any luck yet, but Caitlin is confident that he will eventually. In the meantime, Oliver has the unfortunate task of pretending to be a normal parent, heading to the police station in Central City with Samantha on the pretense that the police have any chance of finding William.

She knows without having to ask that Felicity is using any and all hacking techniques at her disposal to find William. It also didn't escape her notice that she chose to do so from Star City rather than follow Oliver to Central City.

Caitlin reaches for her phone immediately when she sees Felicity's name. "Hi, Felicity," Caitlin says, using her most calming and relaxing tone even though she's feeling as frantic as the rest of them. An innocent child does not deserve to be dragged into Damien Darkh's world.

"Caitlin," Felicity says on a sigh. She sounds beyond exhausted.

"Cisco's working on it from our end," Caitlin says immediately. "How's it going for you?" She's almost afraid to ask.

"It's not," Felicity says shortly. "Darkh must have some kind of magical or mystical encryption or something. And I can't…" Her breath hitches, and Caitlin hears it. "John's brother says H.I.V.E. has never taken a child… He doesn't know what they do to children…" The fear and dread in her voice is clear.

"When's the last time you slept?" Caitlin asks carefully.

"I really don't know," and Caitlin hears the hysterics in her voice. She also hears typing in the background. Not a great combination. "I can't sleep with Oliver's son kid-napped, I can't sleep with Oliver right now because it makes my _skin_ crawl, and I can't sleep without him because… Because! Dammit!"

Caitlin closes her eyes for a moment, empathizing with her friend. She remembers trying to sleep without Ronnie and how hard it was, for months, never mind a week. Their situations were different, of course, but she remembers.

She opens her eyes and tries to offer advice. "Take some deep breaths."

"Caitlin…" The _I don't have time for that_ going unspoken.

"You have time to take deep breaths."

She listens to make sure that Felicity actually does it.

"Thanks, Caitlin," Felicity says once she's done, sounding calmer. "How… How is he?"

She asks like she's embarrassed for wanting to know the answer, and Caitlin winces again in sympathy for Felicity. "Not great," Caitlin answers honestly. "But he's got that un-naturally calm all the time thing going for him. And probably a healthy dose of shock." She gets nothing but silence on the other end, and suddenly Caitlin wishes that Felicity had come to Central City so that she could give her friend a hug.

"You know that you're welcome to stay with me if you want, right? Any time, for as long as you need."

"Being a good roommate is trickier than it used to be for me."

Caitlin rolls her eyes. "I'm a doctor, remember?" She actually hears Felicity laugh briefly before sobering. "Seriously, if you need space… Well, I've got plenty of space, and we can always use your help around here. Barry can get you back to Star City if you're needed, too."

"You make it sound like you're sure how this will end." It's not a criticism she hears in Felicity's voice, just a fact.

Caitlin leans her head against her hand, looking down, exhausted herself and wondering if she, too, is meddling. "I really hope we're close enough so I can say what I'm about to say…"

"We are."

"I know life is short, and I know I'm glad that I married Ronnie before he died even if we were only married for a short time. We don't get unlimited time with the people we love, and it sucks."

"But?"

"But you have to care about how you're treated in the meantime." She said it simply. She knew there wasn't much else to say.

There's silence on the other end. "Yeah," Felicity sighed. "I know. Call me if there's any changes."

"You, too." Caitlin hangs up and sighs to herself. When she looks up, she's shocked and horrified to see Oliver Queen standing across the room.

"Okay, you're quite intimidating… And quiet. I've gotten used to all my stuff flying everywhere when Barry comes in here. But you have no right to listen to my phone conversations."

Oliver lifted his hands in defense. "I was just coming to check if there's any progress." His voice was courteous, but dead. Caitlin wasn't entirely sure if Oliver was entirely present standing in front of her. She understood suddenly why Barry felt that Felicity breaking up with Oliver could mean a catastrophe would occur.

Even so, she felt the need to continue. Her loyalty to the sisterhood was strong. "I don't know how much you heard, but I'm not going to apologize for what I said to her."

"You shouldn't," Was all he said in reply.

Cisco suddenly appeared, triumphant, with Barry behind him. "I know where he is!"

A/N Let me know what you think! I have a couple more scenes in mind.


End file.
